Hey folks, Bug here. Before we get started with the reviews I wanted to announce the winner(s) of our WHERE THE WIL THINGS ARE Contest from Monday. After a massive response from you all (thankyouveddymuch), and a little flinagling on my part with the publisher to give us one more copy to give out to you guys, the following two Faithful Readers will be receiving a copy of HEADS ON AND WE SHOOT: THE MAKING OF WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE autographed by both Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers!

Brian Dochney
Rich Curran

Thanks all, for taking part in the contest and congrats to the winners.
And now, on with the reviews…

PLANETARY #27

“It’s taken a long time to get here, but you and me and her and him – we’re just getting started.”
-- Elijah Snow
For a series that was proposed as a 24-issue bi-monthly comic book series which should have been completed in 4 years, there seems to be a fair bit of irony (at least in my mind) that it lasted 10 ½ years. Add to the irony a bit the fact that 3 of those 10 ½ years were just the time between the last 2 issues. I reviewed that issue 3 years ago and all I remember is being somewhat underwhelmed by the big picture revelation of the big threat. The whole subplot regarding Ambrose Chase’s demise had completely disappeared from my memory. So, I was playing a bit of catchup here within the story since it is entirely focused on an attempt to save Ambrose’s life but risk destroying time and all existence to do it. Happily, they recapped enough to bring it all back to me.
A friend of mine said that this issue felt more like one of those lame TV sitcom reunion movies. I will admit there’s something odd in this comic, but I can’t quite place my finger on it. As a stubborn completist who has stuck with this series for the duration, I am glad to have this though. The only reason I decided to commit to it way back when was because of the plan to end it in 4 years. Dammit. It’s such a fantastic series.
PLANETARY honors so many conventions of every conceivable subgenre within heroic adventure and modern fantasy fiction. This series revels in the infinite worlds of imagination and uses them to both surround its Scooby-Doo Gang-like trinity of adventurers but also to entice them into action. Readers of PLANETARY will find their nostalgia tickled and their noses tweaked by complicated mysteries and their minds blown with concepts creatively woven into the tapestry of the journey that is the extended life of Elijah Snow. The Planetary Organization serves as the central firing point for the various assignments and mysteries involving monsters and other such threats to the world.
The series as a whole is pretty near perfect. And this latest chapter is a very satisfying denouement that allows for a heavy dose of exposition laying out a rather fascinating conception of time travel premised on the well established theoretical position that states time travel is theoretically possible given a generator powerful enough, but that time travel would only be possible backwards in time to the point where the first working time machine is fired up. Forward travel would be fine, backwards would only be possible to this present point. In theory, it could mean that the instant the time machine is turned on, people from the far future would start popping in to our present.
So, that’s the theory that Ellis takes and extrapolates some seriously extreme consequences if time travel goes bad, the big question being whether the life of Ambrose Chase is worth the risk. And therein lies the biggest mystery at the heart of this essentially stand-alone comic. As a reader who waited 3 years, I guess I wish there was more to it than this. As a reader who waited 3 years, and stuck with it for 10 ½ years, I guess I wanted to see something perhaps more like a detailed casebook that recapped the series. The closest to that I got was Cassaday’s extraordinary and amazing wraparound cover. That cover alone is worth the $3.99 cover price, in my opinion.
Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t dislike this issue. It is just that standing alone like this after so long, I wanted it to knock my socks off. That it did not do. It was satisfying, but not the ass-kicking I wanted to experience. So, what would be my assessment? My overall assessment is that when I go back and read the entire series from start to finish very soon, I will find this issue to fit in to the flow of the story and probably cap the story off very well. And I guess that in this more modern way of approaching comics, this series will here on out be forever in print as a “Graphic Novel” and my diminished enjoyment of this particular chapter will vanish and be forgotten. Reading PLANETARY #27 really drove home to me the zeitgeist shift that the entire comics industry has undergone in the last decade or so in restructuring the monthly series into multi-issue arcs whereby each issue is now structured as a single chapter in a larger story. As such, reviewing those individual issues can many times be about as rewarding as reviewing individual chapters of a novel.
So….let me see if I can sum up my evaluation of PLANETARY #27. If you’ve never read PLANETARY before, ignore this issue. But start buying the collected editions in soft or hard cover. It is essential reading for all readers of adventure fiction whether graphic of prose. If you have stuck with PLANETARY up till now, don’t let irritation over the 3 year wait prevent you from picking it up. It is worth the price. The writing is solid and though-provoking. The plot is fairly satisfying. And the art is once again magnificent.
I still can’t believe I stuck this out the entire 10 ½ years, though.“Prof. Challenger” is actually Texas graphic artist and lifelong reader of comics, Keith Howell. He really digs Green Lantern and illustrated THE BEST OF PHILIP JOSE’ FARMER and contributed art, design, and editing to a number of books and magazines. He occasionally updates his website at Prof. Challenger. He also wants everyone to know that an exceptional human being whose life touched thousands of individuals around this world was killed unexpectedly last week. Dr. David D. Edwards left this world too soon, and if you knew him you are grieving right now and if you never knew him….you really should have.

HAUNT #1

Despite the comic holy trinity line-up of McFarlane, Kirkman and Ottley emblazoned on the front cover, HAUNT is an easy target for industry haters based on first glance. The cover is eerily reminiscent of a certain web slinger’s first issue 18 years ago (simply replace webbing with ectoplasmic goo). One might also mistake the appearance of HAUNT’s eponymous main character on the cover with another McFarlane creation that rhymes with prawn. And if you are the type to judge a book by its cover you would be right, McFarlane completely “marked” his territory in this space — fortunately my friends, that is where the similarities end. What lies beneath this homage to the early 90s is pure Kirkman and Ottley doing for the paranormal what INVINCIBLE did for super heroes five years ago — namely weaving a mystery, future plot promise, and kick in your teeth action into a tidy 22 pages.
Kirkman, ever the master of complex characterization, is also intensely focused on germinating the overarching story with this inaugural issue, much like he has done in the past with INVINCIBLE and THE WALKING DEAD. What appear to be throw away moments almost certainly come back at a later time to become full-on driving forces for future stories. Essentially every panel is a spoiler for what’s to come, while at the same time delivering dialogue that keeps you riveted to the here and now. For anyone that has ever skirted past Kirkman’s creator owned titles and wonders what all the fuss is about, there it is. You don’t simply have a casual relationship with one-off issues of Kirkman’s books; you marry these bitches for the long haul.
Focusing on two brothers from seemingly different walks of life, one a priest and one a mercenary for hire, both men clearly have bad blood between them that goes beyond their chosen career paths. It’s also clear that both men are using religion as a crutch to absolve their wicked ways rather than out of a zealot’s devotion to the religion itself. Kirkman cleverly leverages the clichéd Catholic guilt to keep the rosary mercenary and the whore mongering priest within arm’s reach of one another as confessor and deliverance of absolution. When a rescue mission goes south (in part due to the mercenary brother’s own devices) the true tale of HAUNT starts to unfold. Once the mercenary brother is killed for information he does not have, his spirit form begins to “haunt” the priestly side of this Cain and Abel relationship chiding Father Fucks-A-Lot into unraveling the mystery behind his brother’s death. A few bad guys and sprays of bullets later, we unravel the next layer of this story in what feels to be the only truly “borrowed” part of this title. Unsure what to do when a bullet is flying at the priest, the ghost forgetting he has no tangible form tries to push the priest out of harm’s way and the two merge into that character that looks a lot like that prawn fellow I mentioned earlier. Sure, the melding of two bodies, spirits, souls, whatever…has been done before from Deadman to Firestorm, but I can already see stark differences from these characters in HAUNT’S union.
I had to do a double take to make sure Ottley had actually done the pencils on this book. Just as the two main characters of HAUNT merge to form something greater, it felt as though McFarlane jumped into Ottley’s body and together formed a whole greater than their parts. I have NEVER seen an artist switch styles so deftly and with such quality before. It never apes anything crafted by McFarlane in the past, but certainly embodies the spirit of Todd’s past work. I’ll be the first to admit that Ottley’s “hyper-cartoony” style didn’t fully grow on me in INVINCIBLE until the last epic battle between Invincible and Conquest, but HAUNT shows the man is more than a style. Ottley is a true artist, allowing the mood and setting of the book to guide his hand rather than forcing himself on to the page.
HAUNT lives up to its name; the events, characters and promise of what’s to come will linger with you long after you close the final page.When Optimous Douche isn’t reading comics and misspelling the names of 80’s icons, he “transforms” into a corporate communications guru. "What if the whole world had superpowers? Find out in the pages of Optimous’ original book AVERAGE JOE. Read the first full issue on Optimous’ New Blog and see original sketches by fellow @$$hole Bottleimp. If you are a publisher or can help these guys get AVERAGE JOE up, up, and on the shelves in any way, drop Optimous a line."

DAREDEVIL #501

As I roam through the different facets of this book, let me start out by saying one thing: I liked it. I’m very interested to see where this goes. And the art could almost carry the book by itself. I could stop the review right here, but hang out with me for a minute.
I’ve followed this book for some time, off and on, and watched Daredevil wander through his own life, sometimes proactive, sometimes seemingly helpless to resist his own nature (and I’m not just talking about nailing Dakota North.) I don’t mind seeing his meandering malaise; it’s part of a necessary narrative. But I kept waiting for some marker, some definitive turning point where I could look forward to things getting better. Like when Wolverine first snarled in the sewers beneath the Hellfire Club, “Now it’s my turn!” Or, more apropos, when Matt Murdock himself uttered, at the end of DAREDEVIL #227, “It was a nice piece of work, Kingpin. You shouldn’t have signed it.” Remember those? If you read them, I bet you do. A writer can hang their hat on those kinds of moments, and so can a reader.
And we didn’t get one. Daredevil didn’t pick himself up and rebuild his life. Instead, we got something different. Not just another dark, depressing turn of events. Daredevil leads The Hand. It’s grotesque…and fascinating. And the precursor was set up wonderfully: Matt Murdock found that teaming up with his old enemy, the Kingpin, yielded some serious results. Now Diggle is taking that idea, times a thousand, and running with it.
He (Murdock, not Diggle) already seems doomed to failure. After all, he states in the opening scenes that a weapon, even one as diabolical as The Hand, can be used for good “if the hand that wields it is righteous.” Yet his very next act is to betray one of the good guys. So who’s this righteous man Murdock is talking about? ‘Cause it sure ain’t him.
Not now.
Yet a well intentioned character can do some good while flirting with evil. After all, this has been HELLBLAZER’s bread and butter for almost 20 years. Not coincidentally, Andy Diggle recently had a solid, revitalizing run on that same book, so he’s well qualified to explore a similar vein here. Unlike Constantine, who made his choices long before he was introduced to reader, Daredevil is in the middle of making his choices here. Now, we know Daredevil is one of the good guys, so chances are he’ll make his way back into the light. But you know what? He may not. He may not make it all the way back. And the real question is how many other people will have to pay the price along the way.
De la Torre and Hollingworth combine efforts for some great visuals which actually bring me back to those old days of Mazzucchelli. Moody and dark visuals, cinematic even. Fantastic individual rendering, highlighted by their usage of specific palettes for specific scenes: midnight blues for midnight skies, dingy yellows for dingy offices, etc. Makes me wish I were a better artist so I could appreciate some of the stuff they put in that I’m sure I missed. Every page, every panel was well done.
I’m really excited about this book. I think you will be too.Rock-me Amodeo is pleased that his first screenplay begins shooting later this month, and should make its way to one of the Big Three networks early next year.

THE MIGHTY #9

We are officially in “shit hitting fan” mode in what has been one of the more tense books I have been reading the past couple of months. For several issues now we have watched, almost in abject horror, as our protagonist, Gabriel Cole, has slowly realized something is amiss with Alpha One, this world’s Superman. Slowly he has been pulled into a world of paranoia and dread as a previous handler for the mighty A1 tried to warn Cole of the secret personality he hides before meeting his untimely demise. And ever since then, Cole has lived in a world of fear and dread as the most powerful being to ever exist has been, for lack of a better term, “dogging him” and playing with suspicions he has to know Cole has developed recently. Finally, it all comes to a head this issue…
Like I just said, the atmosphere that all the creative hands have put in place for a few issues now is just absolutely engrossing, which is why in correlation to the amping of the tension here, this book has been also slowly sliding its way towards the back of my stack as well (always save the best for last kids). The verbal sparring that has been going on between Cole and A1, a being who could render his head into paste in less than a second, has been more terrifying than any of the overhyped “shocks and scares” movies that have seen any hype this decade (S”aw” and “Paranormal Activity”, I’m looking at you). The biggest mindfuck of them all has probably come this past issue leading into this one, as Alpha One, trying to calm the fears of Cole (but most likely just fucking with him) brings him back to his headquarters for some one-on-one time in the wake of Cole “losing” his wife Janet recently, another Alpha One development. As Alpha goes off again to save some innocents, Cole is free to have “amateur hacking hour”, stumbling across a revelation that truly kicks off a sweat-inducing game of cat and mouse, except in this case the cat can fucking fly through buildings at the speed of sound…
What Tomasi, Champagne, and the more recently added but very welcome Samnee have made here is a very well crafted turn on the superhero genre. I know that it’s running parallel to a similar story of “World’s Greatest Hero gone mad” in the pages of IRREDEEMABLE, and that seems to be getting more attention because of the writer name attached to it, but THE MIGHTY really is a different animal. It plays with the safety we come to associate with these God-like superpowers because it’s been a slow descent from trust in Alpha One down to the fear of him and what he might do. In IRREDEEMABLE we’re introduced to its hero turned villain, The Plutonian, as a genocidal maniac, but the whole of THE MIGHTY so far Alpha One has still been playing the hero, all while doing super-powered surveillance on Cole and messing with him from afar while saving thousands from harm all the while. And now that we’re really down to the darkest part of it all, the build up has really paid off, and as the cover to this issue will attest, we are probably in for some very dire consequences ahead. This last act of an already very intriguing saga should be a truly startling finish to what is shaping up to be a classic take on the superhero genre and its conventions.Humphrey Lee has been an avid comic book reader going on fifteen years now and a contributor to Ain't It Cool comics for quite a few as well. In fact, reading comics is about all he does in his free time and where all the money from his day job wages goes to - funding his comic book habit so he can talk about them to you, our loyal readers (lucky you). He's a bit of a social networking whore, so you can find him all over the Interwebs on sites like Twitter, The MySpaces, Facebookand a Blogger Account where he also mostly talks about comics with his free time because he hasn't the slightest semblance of a life. Sad but true, and he gladly encourages you to add, read, and comment as you will.

THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE: RECORDED ATTACKS OGN

This is hands down the best zombie book of the year and may be the best original graphic novel I've laid my peepers on this year as well. Its proof positive that even a genre that has been strip mined to its core in recent years can still produce some stupendously entertaining and vividly original material. RECORDED ATTACKS narrates the events coldly with hard facts and fictional historical accounts and sources, but rings with an authenticity that few zombie stories have. Ping ponging through the centuries, writer of WORLD WAR Z Max Brooks tells us that the zombie plague isn't just a current phenomenon. In fact, it's been around since the dawn of man.
I found this book to be completely amazing and utterly maddening at the same time.
Amazing in the fact that there are so many ideas with which to springboard off so many awesome stories. A reported slave revolt in the Eastern Caribbean is actually a massive effort to contain the zombie uprising by freed slaves and slaves alike. A French Foreign Legion station in the middle of a desert is besieged by an army of the dead and trapped for years when they spent their ammo on the army on shots to the body and not the head. A Cossack scouting party resort to cannibalism, but soon find that their hunger has been their downfall as they find bodies in the snow. The Egyptian ritual of removing the brains of their dead is explained. A slave ship slowly succumbs to the zombie plague as slaves chained together, one by one, are subsequently turned, resulting in a floating vessel of death on the high seas. From cover front to cover back, this book is oozing with ideas better than most of the zombie fiction you see on the shelves today.
Which leads to the utterly maddening part. As awesome as these ideas are, Brooks only spends about five to ten pages on each of them. Each and every one of them could have been full blown miniseries or films, placing zombies in situations that we haven't seen them in and utilizing the conventions of the genre in smart new ways. Reading each chapter as we skip through the ages, I was literally saying, "Man, that'd be an awesome story." or "I'd see that film twice!" Instead, the stories are almost wasted in this format which screams to be treated much more extensively. Maybe someday, some of these stories can be elaborated on. If not, these snippets of stories that never were seem like wasted potential.
Maddening as this book is, I loved every page of it. A lot of it had to do with the fantastic art by Ibraim Roberson, who I have never heard of, but should be a household name soon. His art is reminiscent of Tom Raney, yet his figures are more proportional and three dimensional. Roberson seems to be able to draw just about everything, from horses, to humans, to animals, to cars, to tanks, to just about every terrain imaginable. An artist with a range such as Roberson will go a long way. His black and white imagery in this book makes the mouth water, the eyes burst, and the stomach turn.
Hopefully, the ideas mapped out in this book are elaborated upon in subsequent issues. They're just too damn good to die in this form. Until then, though, I'll be rereading RECORDED ATTACKS. It's got a documentary feel, but not in a hokey manner. Brooks proved he is a talented writer of fiction. Here he makes the transition to comics utterly seamlessly. No other zombie book out there will cover so much ground and have as many amazing ideas as this one. Highest possible recommendation to those who lean towards undead sort of things.Ambush Bug is Mark L. Miller, reviewer and co-editor of AICN Comics for over eight years. Check out his short comic book fiction from Cream City Comics’ MUSCLES & FIGHTS VOL.3 and MUSCLES & FRIGHTS VOL.1 on his ComicSpace page. Bug was interviewed here and here at Cream City Comics and here and here about his latest comic from Bluewater Comics, VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS: THE TINGLER #1-2. Look for more comics from Bug in 2010 from Bluewater, including VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS WITCHFINDER GENERAL and ROGER CORMAN PRESENTS DEATHSPORT.

MODELS, INC. #2

On the surface, MODELS, INC. seems like a natural fit for a creepy social misfit like me, and I’m sure it’s apparent after my ATHENA and RED SONJA reviews that it doesn’t take much to sharpen the Pasty pencil. With that said, I must confess that the only motivation I had to shell out the few extra clams for this book was the memory of a stillborn television drama by the same name, unceremoniously dumped by NBC after garnering a 0.001 rating when it debuted back in 1994. Since I also rented “In the Heat of Passion II,” hoping to catch Theresa Hill running around without pants, consider this the second time the now-defunct series has cost me a Lincoln.
That’s not to suggest the artwork doesn’t deliver, because it does, especially the pulchritudinous Pat Benatar-ish cover. Vicenc Villegrasa is sleek and showy, propping up his female characters like exotic cars in a showroom full of product you could never afford. And alas, therein lies the fault line in the MODELS, INC. crust. While it’s enjoyable to look at, this book is completely inaccessible by the common man. The running joke around an average Joe getting his hands on a $250,000 Ferrari is the impracticality of the score. Do you drive an F70 to the Quik-E-Mart to grab a gallon of milk? Leave it parked next to the rat-infested dumpster in your run-down apartment complex? MODELS, INC., like the gratuitous toys of the super-elite, exists inside a fantasy world that while visually entertaining, doesn’t transition well into the laps of the casual reader.
It sounds funny knocking a comic book for being unrealistic, especially since I can talk passionately to my friends for hours on end about the exploits of men and women who fly, breathe fire and wear silly costumes. The difference is that MODELS, INC. is like “Sex in the City” minus the sex and thankfully, minus the face of Sarah Jessica Parker. This book is heavy on dialogue and I think I speak for most men when I say that listening to a woman debate fashion is like trying to translate the instructions of Charlie Brown’s elementary school teacher: I can hear the talking, but I can’t understand what the hell is being said.
The story revolves around a murder in the big city and (gasp!) one of society’s top models is accused of the crime. She gets out of jail, declares her innocence, fights off a ruthless district attorney and hides behind her lawyer. Of course all this drama is interspersed with a female think-tank that’s comprised of an assortment of hotties brainstorming over the big whodunit. And believe me, I use the word “brain” in brainstorming very, very loosely. (Surveying the crime scene) “All this damage…I think it counts as a clue.” Imagine Daphne from “Scooby-Doo” as Edmund Exley and I think you get the idea. Thank God Johnny Storm makes a cameo as a boyfriend to one of the models, or I might have even forgotten this was a comic book. Regrettably, he doesn’t “flame on,” but he does sound a bit like a flamer. “Secret identities are sweet!” Sigh.
I wouldn’t consider MODELS, INC. a total disaster. Paul Tobin is a competent writer and Villegrasa certainly has an eye for good looking women. Unfortunately they can’t elevate themselves above the limitations of the material. I will however, give them credit for being authentic: MODELS, INC., like the typical Calvin Klein model, is just too damn thin to be considered appealing.
Final Word: Have you ever been attracted to a beautiful woman until she opens her mouth? That pretty much sums up the experience of reading MODELS, INC.Web heads who can’t get enough of Mr. Pasty’s word vomit are encouraged to watch him operate as Nostradumbass over at here. MMAmania.com. Love, hate and Mafia Wars requests should be directed here.

BATTLEFIELDS VOL. 2: DEAR BILLY

What to say about Garth Ennis’ war comics that I haven’t said a million times before? There is simply no one in comics today who writes a better war comic than Garth Ennis. No one is even close, and DEAR BILLY is one of the high water marks in his career.
For the first time, he switches his focus from the familiar WWII European campaign to the Pacific, where it follows the story of a nurse who miraculously survives a Japanese execution after having been raped. This event is the centerpiece of a tragedy about a likeable young woman who is unable to move past her anger toward the Japanese and becomes something quite monstrous, albeit in a quiet and understated sort of way.
If there’s a fault, it’s in the fact that it never presents the Japanese as anything but violent & savage, but to present them as anything else would have completely undercut the story that is being told, because we need to understand Nurse Carrie Sutton’s rage and be able to put her actions into the context of the times, when the Japanese were widely viewed just as Ennis portrays them here. Only near the end of the story does Ennis nudge us from this war-torn perspective into a more objective reality. But mostly the story trusts the audience to view this experience through an emotionally damaged woman’s eyes and doesn’t stand up and moralize about the wrongness of such commonly held views.
Most of the story takes place behind enemy lines, so there are few opportunities for the blood & gore that categorize Ennis’ work. Those few violent scenes serve to remind the audience of how Carrie views the enemy, and serve to justify (temporarily) her killing defenseless Japanese P.O.W.s in their hospital beds.
I’m not a huge fan of the behind-the-lines military dramas, because no matter what hardships they face, they almost always pale in comparison to those who are actually under enemy fire or domination. Ennis deftly sidesteps the issue by having Carrie fully understand the hardships that are being faced by the men on the frontline and never wishing to burden anyone with what she considers her own petty concerns. Her desire to accept her burden and just get on with things keeps her from becoming a whiny, self-indulgent character overburdened with her own fairly inconsequential problems; and allows the tragedy of her situation to spring forth from her own unwillingness to deal with the horror and indignities that she experienced until the fateful letter that begins with the story’s title.
Frequent collaborator Peter Snejbjerg, is on pencils, where he does his usual bang up job conveying the wide range of emotions that are often required of his scripts. Ennis rarely writes for flashy artists, opting to go for solid craftsmen who can handle a wide variety of facial expressions, and Snejbjerg does an admirable job ushering Carrie and her love, Billy, through the good, bad, and terrifying moments of war.
I read this book about a couple of months ago and it’s stuck with during that time. It’s got all the hallmarks of a ripping good WWII tale of tragic love and revenge, and it features yet another great female character from Garth Ennis, who seems to know that perfect mix of vulnerability and toughness that makes them feel real and approachable. Garth Ennis war comics: accept no substitutions.

Hey folks, Ambush Bug here. I’ve got another nice batch of indie goodness for you all to enjoy. Take a taste. I’ll bet you’ll be hooked.

Not sure I have completely wrapped my brain around this one just yet, but in an attempt to do so, I’ll list the stuff I took away from this first issue by Coheed & Cambria frontman Claudio Sanchez. It’s got an immortal dwarf named Kill Audio who looks like a mini-metalhead (kinda like Jack Black shrunken to Vern Troyer size), a skeleton held together by a giant bear suit, a coke-snorting chicken who thinks he’s Elvis (or maybe he is!?!?!?!), a talking pillow who likes basketball, and a murderous master of weapons who throws everything but the kitchen sink in an attempt to kill Kill Audio. The storyline makes Grant Morrison’s more trippy endeavors seem tame as the characters go on a quest that leads them to hell itself. While there, Kill Audio makes out with a two headed demon and meets a clockwork robot with answers to questions I wasn’t completely sure of. But I had a damnly memorable time reading this book that is kind of hard to describe. It’s kind of like WIZARD OF OZ if it were envisioned by Hunter S. Thompson. It’s Tom Waits singing an Enya song. It’s a Pollock painting if Pollock had twelve arms. Yeah, it’s kinda like that. Song lyrics decorate the panels and alleyways in between. The plotline goes off on tangential riffs and solos like a damn fine hour-long jam by your favorite artist. This is one of those truly distinct comics that defies classification and warrants a read or two to fully be understood. But in the end, like most good music, total understanding is the furthest thing from what this book is trying to communicate. It’s better just to look at the vivid panels and outlandish imagery by someone named Mr. Sheldon ( no first name?), sit back, and enjoy every page as its own stanza to a song using music, playing instruments, and musing lyrics vaguely familiar, but wholly different than anything experienced before. The book even has a suggested listening list at the end that is as randomly patchwork as the content within. It’s not for the literal minded, but for those of us who love music as much as comics, this is a trippy dippy must read. But you can’t just say this is a must read book. This is a must experience book.

Issue two of this series proves that Nick Simmons is not only an up and coming artist, he’s also got a pretty hefty bag full of interesting and creative ideas. The Revenant monsters in this story are part vampire, but much, much more. Mot, our lead monster, is captured and forced to work for a secret organization, leashed by a Tingler like object made of Revenant bone (the only thing apparently that can hurt a Revenant). Not sure if I completely understand the motivations of these creatures just yet, but Simmons is keeping how everything fits together pretty close to his vest. Still, he pieces together some great scenes of bloody action and his choice of panel size and shape are incredibly impressive. The vivid and angular panels amplify the intensity of the scenes and Simmons’ manga-influenced art dances around these panels with tumbling grace. There’s a lot of fun to be had in this book. Though some of the pages feel exposition heavy, the story, like most of Radical’s books, is epic in scope and well worth checking out.

THE GREEN LAMA
Cornerstone Books

Though Dynamite is busy making multiple miniseries about the public domain characters, it's good to see that others are taking advantage of the public domain-nicity of them as well, especially when it's in an entirely different medium. When I got THE GREEN LAMA from Cornerstone Books, I believed it to be another graphic rendition of the mystic monk in emerald robes. Turns out it's a prose novel compiling three pulpy tales about the Green Lama. There's nothing wrong with that though because they were pretty impressive reads, embracing the character's pulp roots with a low passionate hug. Each story focuses on action and adventure, which makes for a quick read. The scattered interior art by Jay Piscopo are fun breaks in the reading illustrating high flying action that you'd expect from a Saturday afternoon serial of old. Though years of comic book reading has made for prose novel reading to be somewhat of a chore these days (guess mom was right when she told me comics would rot your brain), this collection of shorts reads quick and shows another aspect of this mystical character. Out of all of those public domain characters, the Green Lama was one of the ones that stood out to me as having the most potential. Here, writers Kevin Noel Olson, Adam Garcia, and Peter Miller reach that potential and then some. Fun pulpy reading.

HOUSE OF M: MASTERS OF EVIL #3
Marvel Comics

I have to give Gage and Marvel their props. When this mini-series started I looked the cover, read the title and immediately had a pet name for it: “Mooty McMootenstein.” I mean, c’mon! House of M? I ignored it for a month. I don’t know why I started leafing through it when the second issue came out…but I’m glad I did. I’ve completely bought into it: The Hood as a freedom fighter. And it works! Maybe I’m just a sucker for redemption stories (I am). Maybe it’s just good writing (it is.) But I was looking forward to the third issue, and now that it’s here, I can’t wait to see how it ends. If all those “THE LIST” one-shots haven’t exhausted your budget, this is a good place to spend some time and money. - Rock-Me Amodeo

DOCTOR VOODOO: AVENGER OF THE SUPERNATURAL #1
Marvel Comics

Although I wasn’t a fan of how the story got to this point, once again a phenomenal writer comes along and spackles the holes left by one of Bendis’ more ham-fisted storylines as he neutered Stephen Strange over the course of the last couple of years and replaced him with one of the kookier characters from Marvel’s 70’s era, Brother VooDoo as Sorcerer Supreme. I was planning on avoiding this book because of how the path to this book left such a bad taste in my mouth. But then I saw Rick Remender’s name on the cover and gave it a shot. It appears Remender can do no wrong. In the past he’s shown he can do rompy action and hard edged crime like few others, and now he shows us that he can write the hell out of a mystic style comic book too. I’m thinking even a phone book written by Remender would be solid gold. He’s got his voodoo terminology down and has introduced us to a character I’d be happy to follow for quite a while in Dr.VD as his first big move is to trap major baddie Dormammu in a prison in the Dark Dimension. AND THAT’S JUST IN THE FIRST FEW PAGES! All this and Doom makes a foreboding appearance, plus a promise of Son of Satan showing up next ish? Keep an eye on this book. It will surprise you, especially with newcomer Jefte Palo’s art adorning its pages. One gripe is that the editor’s may have wanted to make the title of the book not obscured by the art given this is the first issue and all. Still this is a winner. It was a rocky road getting here, but now that we’re here, I’m happy we are. - Ambush Bug

ANGEL #26
IDW Publishing

No lie, the time in Hell went on a little too long. There were times I wondered if maybe the book had run its course. Each issue was good, but the overall journey was getting to the point of me asking with each issue, “are we there yet?” This issue, however, was a keeper. Inspired, even. So many great little touches: casting the ubiquitous Nick Cage as Angel. Gunn as a fat white guy. George the dog. And Spike as…well, if you haven’t read it, I won’t spoil. But as a person who is getting a crash course on what an original script looks like, and what everyone else involved thinks it ought to look like, and how the finished product is somewhere between… just spot on. I could not help but laugh at some of the zingy one-liners, both the intentionally cheesy ones, and the ones uttered by our actual characters. I haven’t had time to get this book for a few months, and I hate to give a mediocre review to books that I love and writers I respect (like Lynch). Every issue can’t be gold forever. So it was nice to pick this book up after a hiatus and so thoroughly enjoy it. - Rock-Me Amodeo

I so badly wanted to get #27 seeing that beautiful cover, but held off because I've only read the first volume. I haven't read the Mighty but it sounds so similar to Irredeemable which I've got a love/hate thing with. Based on this review I might check it out - sounds like it might be better. Art is so bland in Irredeemable (though at least you can mostly tell what's going on) and the characterization is going pretty slow. Still the plot is great - just wish it would pick up the pace because I keep buying 3.99 issues where nothing much happens..

The tension in that book is like a ratchet around DOOM's armored head every issue.<p>"Irredemable", on the other hand, is like a snuff film in slow motion. Although DOOM appreciates what Mark Waid is trying to do thematically, it's paced for the (really big) trade PB or series of trades. It's lacking the plot drive and the scary factor that "The Mighty" has in excess.

I've started paying more attention to monthlies this year and I'm kind of frustrated that a lot of the books I like have such crappy art. Is this an industry thing now - are there too many comics and not enough good artists to go around? I'm thinking of Batman and Robin this month (and last)where there were a few pages where I couldn't tell what the hell was even going on. Art in BPRD right now (1947) is just awful - well more of a bad fit - I can't read it without thinking of saturday morning cartoons. And Irredeemable I'm getting despite the art. Bright spot - Green Lantern and Blackest Night

For what it's worth, some of the stories in Recorded Attacks come from short, quick entries at the end of the original Survival Guide. So they were never really fully fleshed out (no pun intended) stories to begin with. But they were the best part of the otherwise-humorous Survival Guide, so I can agree that it would be awesome if they were full stories. Even more awesome would be an ongoing that tells a story each month, or over the course of two issues. But if you're looking for an awesome, fully realized zombie story, then pick up World War Z. It's really good.

I agree that the most recent issues of Hulk/Rulk have been very good. <br><br> But you must realize, your mutual affection for drugs and the first year of this latest incarnation of HULK is no coincidence. <br><br> :>)

His typical MO. Over at another TB he was getting his but reamed by some other guys, so he says something that is an instant Banhammer action, calling comic book fans Faggots, so he can avoid the confrontation on another TB. <P>
Cowardice, thy name is TAINTLICK.

But I miss the day when he got his skills from boxing rather than ninjitsu. I loved it in the original Contest of Champions when Iron Fist said that DD punched like a "heavy-weight champ." Boxing deserves more respect in comics, God damn it. <P>
Plus I am sick of ninjas, except for Dr. McNinja.

The Mighty's art turned me off at first and I stuck with it. It has been a slow burn, but I'm invested in the main character now. A1 is truly creepy/horrifying. Irredeemable has a horrible slow pacing problem. The characters are poorly developed. I'm riding that series out for the interesting plot. The Mighty is a solid 8/10, Irr 5/10.

I heard through the grapevine that the next Batman title will be called Gotham City's Protector", A while back it was also reported that it was just going to be called "Gotham City". Does anyone else know if this is true? Or is it just a working title that Warner Bros has thrown out there??

You'll see TAINLICK go at it with Xiphos. He was dumb enough to criticize Xi's list of greatest war movies, without realizing he is an active duty marine (I believe he is a Master Sergeant) and was in Ranger when he was in the Army. Nice choice of guy to show up..

I like to think that I had great taste *before* the drugs as well. We can't blame *all* of my elevated aesthetic on drugs.
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What was wrong with the first year of Hulk in your opinion, and what changed your mind about it recently? Because I think that it's been really good the entire time.

First and foremost, there were several issues that, because of the bombastic overabundance of splash pages, look literally minutes to read. As in three or less. If I'm gonna pay money to do something for three minutes or less... well, it won't be for a comic. <BR><BR>Second, the haberdashery of guest characters seemed thrown together like a novice cook with too many spices and too little impulse control. "If it's on the shelf, lets use it." But they didn't really play to each others strengths, or if they did, their interactions were a little undercooked. Not bad. But mostly a lot of sound a fury, ultimately signifying nothing, as someone smarter than me once said. <br><br>Third, the character of Rulk was just a caricature, just another badass in a universe of badasses. What set him apart? Nothing. <br><br>Now, instead of trying to impress us with guest shots and pages and pages of bigger than life art, we're getting an actual story with an actual character. The bigger than life art is balanced with a plot. A story. And character development. Me like.<br><br> Does that help?

what u say about the ending of Planetary.The ending of the main story happened in the previous issue where the 4 finally got defeated for good.But u should remember that in issue 24 or 25,Snow explicitly says to his companions that he wants to defeat the 4 not just to save earth from their evil,but to find a way to bring Ambrose back because he knew he was alive.This means that Snows real quest is the saving of his most trusted friend,which concluded in issue 27.And that makes it lets say the true ending of the whole story.
<p>I understand why u were disappointed with issue 27,u had forgot the plot with Ambrosio which wasnt a subplot,but the true mcguffin of the whole story.
<p>The ending with a bang happened in issue 26,but the more dramatic ending happened in issue 27.

I'm really excited to see where this Daredevil goes, but I'm afraid it will be "all show, no go," you know? Daredevil keeps talking about using the Hand as a weapon, but I bet that's all it is... a lot of tough talk and threats against Norm, against the Kingpin, against Bullseye... and nothing will be solved. Of course, I'm not so stupid to believe that any of the characters will die or that Daredevil will actually kill someone, but still... it just gets boring to see Matt tell Kingpin that "it stops now! Or you'll face me!" AGAIN. I love the concept, but I've got a bad feeling this book is going to turn out to be a wheel-spinner.<br><br>I found World War Z to be just a longer version of the same disappointment I felt at the missed oppurtunities the recorded attacks section represented to me in the survival guide. Like Bug, I wanted to see all of those ideas explored more. True, World War Z did that, but yet again, it spread itself all over and as a result didn't tell a SINGLE whole STORY that featured characters with a distinctive voice. Both books were fun, but ultimately left me wanting more... which, despite its somewhat excessive verbosity, is why I prefer Walking Dead.<br><br>Oh boy! Oh boy! I'm going to the LCS tomorrow finally and I am gonna read the fuck outta this book!<br><br>At the end of the last TB, I mentioned that I think the Dr. Strange/brother voodoo storyline, Dark Reign, and One more Day is all connected. I'm betting this is where it all gets tied together. Final Crisis... HA!

It sort of helps me understand where you're coming from.
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I'm still confused about the "actual" story and "actual" character that you think are happening now, but which you believe did not occur before. Maybe you could clarify? It seems to me that everything happening now is just a logical extension of what has come before.
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I would say that the whole run has had both story and character. They're pretty much what Loeb's known for, I think. The story has been the ongoing mystery of "Who is Rulk?" It has been so well-plotted and there have been so many clues dropped, that the fact that nobody seems to know who he is yet makes me think that nobody is really paying attention, and that when they see the awesome art they immediately shut their brains down and say "Anything that looks this good can't have a decent story." Kind of like you find with movie fans who think that special effects and plot development are mutually exclusive. Also, Loeb really knows his comics, and you can tell, because so much of the story is based on the reader knowing about the characters. But one of the things that makes it great is that you don't *have* to know about the characters to enjoy the comic. Like The Matrix, one person can watch it and understand its philosophical underpinnings, while another can watch it and say "Cool! Explosions and kung-fu!"
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It probably has a little bit to do with being an active reader vs. being a passive reader.
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The "three minutes to read" criticism is a completely subjective experience. You could spend as much or as little time as you want reading Hulk. I'm thinking that you might be one of Hulk's passive readers, and that for you it's more about "getting there" than "being there." You want to "find out what happens" more than you want to gaze at the pages contemplatively. There's nothing wrong with either way of reading, but with something as well constructed as Loeb's Hulk I think that active reading offers certain rewards that passive reading might not.
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I'm not sure that I can agree with the "haberdashery of guest characters" as being much of a criticism, as I like tons of superheroes and supervillains in my comics. This could be chalked up to "Dif'rent strokes for dif'rent folks" or whatever, but maybe a Hulk superhero comic just isn't your genre. I've always liked stuff where there were lots and lots of characters in it, but then, I've always liked spicy food as well. I appreciate that it's not to your taste. Thing is, when Billy Spakeshear wrote that line about sound and fury signifying nothing, I think that he was talking about life itself, and if life means nothing at all then I think that we would be hard pressed to find meaning in a Hulk comic book. The meaning is that its fun and entertaining to read while you're waiting for your meaningless existence to wind down.
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My only really big problem with what you say is that "the character of Rulk was just a caricature, just another badass in a universe of badasses. What set him apart? Nothing."
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Far from being a caricature, Rulk's personality is so well-defined that it becomes the most obvious clue to his identity. What sets him apart is his history within the Hulk mythology and ongoing story. How long have you been following the adventures of the jade giant? If you've started reading recently then I can understand how certain things may not be as obvious to you as they are to someone who's been reading it since the beginning.
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I understand what you're saying about character development. The last two issues have gotten us inside Rulk's head more and given us even more information regarding his motivations, etc. But, that's just because we're further along in a serialized story. When reading comics you have to get used to not knowing everything immediately from the first issue. Sometimes things are revealed slowly over time. Which is why "Who is Red Hulk?" is a mystery. It's not until the end of the game "Clue" that you find out that Colonel Mustard did it with the candlestick in the obsevatory, because then you wouldn't need to play the game. That sort of thing. Also, not everything is always about character development, and there are other criteria which a comic book (or anything else) can be judged by. Such as "bigger than life art." Sometimes "bigger than life art" is even more important in a visual medium. Results may vary.
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Thank you for thinking about your response rather than just the usual "Loeb suxx cuz everyone sez so!!!"
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But I think that if you went back and re-read your Hulks you would see that maybe there was stuff that you were missing on your initial 3 minute breeze-throughs.

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm. Really, I don't. I think that's great. And you should know that there are TWO Loeb fans in this conversion, not just you. I liked the book before issue 12, and I like it a lot more now. You've loved it since the beginning. That's fine! really, it is.<br><br>But the knife of subjectivity cuts both ways. We're on equal footing. So when you start lacing your defense of the book with "When reading comics you have to get used to whatever..." like I need your instruction... Listen, I've been reading comics for 35 years. Whatever I have to get used to, I got used to it already, perhaps before you were even born, though I wouldn't make that assumption. But I wasn't speaking down to you, so don't speak down to me, all right? <br><br> And while I agree that "not everything is always about character development" the fact is, most times it IS. That's usually what makes a story a story. As a comic reader, I obviously have an appreciation for the visual medium. I don't mind an actionfest, either. Those are fun! I just want it counter-balanced with a story. And it didn't feel, to me, like the balance was quite right. That's all.<br><br>Maybe, as you say, HULK isn't the right genre for me. But since I've been reading him since Trimpe, I think I'm at least qualified to form an opinion.

I mean, the female comic market is generally much more of the "buffy" type of reader, right? And any female readers who would want the "Sex and the City" type stuff would probably just rather watch "sex and the City" right? And since there's no sex or nudity, why would the average straight male be interested? And I have no reason to believe that the GLBT section of readership would be any different either... Who are books like Models, Inc. for?

"Look, I only sold my soul to Mephisto, NOT Satannish or Marduk Kurios..." <P>
Seriously though, I wonder what the ranking of evil is amongst Marvel's demonic figures. Is Satannish less or more evil than Mephisto, and is selling your soul to Mephisto worse or better than helping out the Red Skull? <P>
We need 22 pages of characters just debating that philosophical point...

It's done. I haven't heard if there is a spin off series or not, but I've always expected it to end this way and naturally lead into another series centering around the bleed, the snowflake, and the shift ship.

But I will say they should have tapped him to replace JMS as the replacement for SQUADRON SUPREME. I normally like Howard Chaykin, but IMO I think Ellis would have given us much more interesting twist on the idea of Marvel Characters getting the SUPREME POWERS twist.

Sorry for any offense, or if I sounded overly didactic or condescending during my defense of certain aspects of the current Hulk comic book. I understand that you are a Loeb fan as well and have read his entire run.
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You should know that we're on equal footing with length of comic reading time as well. It's a good thing that you didn't make that assumption about when I was born.
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My point was only that I saw Hulk as being well-balanced, and that you may have missed some of the story aspects (understandably, due to the overwhelmingly awesome artwork) if you were only spending 3 minutes reading each issue. No offense.
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Basically what I'm trying to say is: "Since we're on equal footing, maybe all we're talking about here is amount of time wasted on a children's comic book." Then the quote from The Bard, questions as to your experience with comics, trying to be magnanimous by mentioning Sly and the Family Stone, etc. etc. I probably wasn't being clear enough. The Clue example was probably a little much.
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My communication with you as well as my apology are sincere.
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So now, let's shoot the dead elephant in the room or whatever:
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Sounds like you've been reading Hulk long enough to know who Rulk is, or at least have a very educated guess. I'm pretty positive that I know who Rulk is from the abundance of clues that Loeb has given. Please offer any insights that you may have, because I'm legitimately interested in what others who are following along think on the topic, and my enthusiasm remains undamped by opinions running counter to my own.
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Excelsior!

I don't fucking get this site and how much they salivate over "REGULAR, MONTHLY ISSUES!" Yes, Planetary took for-fucking-ever to finish, I agree with that statement. This site is fucked with it's focus on regularity (are they a bunch of old men who like bran muffins who write these reviews?). I remember the FINAL issue of Ultimates Vol. 1, an issue and a series that is now universally recognized as a modern classic, and what was the AICN ASSHOLES REVIEW of Ultimates #13 Vol. 1? "This review was rescheduled for a future date." Ba-dum-dump. Seriously, when all you do is piss and moan about comics being late and not actually reviewing the work, get over yourself and focus on the work, not the time it took to make that work.

if you are still planning on going to next year's comic-con...forget it<p> 4 day passes with preview night are already gone...soon to be followed by all the rest of the 4 day passes<p> in this economy, i highly doubt that these 100 dollar tiks were bought by us geeks<P> comic con is dead...long live the new long beach con

In Claire's or the Hello Kitty Shop. Synergy -- cross sell outside the comic shop walls -- give it away with a pair of ear rings.<p>
What's funniest in the whole thing is thinking of Pasty whose built like The Thing on steroids sitting around reading Models Inc.

This book is $17.00, and is mostly B&W illustrations with very little dialog or narrative. It's basically a picture book. Just get the actual Zombie survival guide book or audio, and let your mind paint the pictures. if you already have the book or audio, this graphic book is pointless.

That's a really interesting guess, but that's not who I think it is. It would certainly give "Red" Hulk a double meaning, though, and I like it because of that. It really makes me think twice.
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But then we'd have to wonder: Why would a Hulkbuster Gamma Base scanner recognize Igor as someone having authorized clearance, since he's a known enemy spy? How would a known enemy spy have access to highly secure SHIELD equipment, etc.? Why would Igor be taking orders from Thunderbolt Ross? Wasn't Igor crazy the last time we saw him?
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I think that there's a much easier answer.
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rock-me Amodeo is going to show up any minute and nail it, I bet.

Place your bets on it being Glenn Talbot, who "died" when the Hulkbuster vehicle the War Wagon he was linked to crashed into an active volcano while he was trying to take down the Hulk (issue unknown, but it must have been early 1980s).<p>Knows all the friends/associates/enemies of the Hulk: Check.<p>Has reasons to have a big mad-on for the Hulk: Check.<p>Shows tactical and strategic skills thanks to military training: Check.<p>Gained super-strength and the ability to radiate heat from the volcano: Check. (Pull out your superhero physics books to explain how the War Wagon reconstructed Talbot to make him into the ultimate Hulk killer, which is what the AI in the Wagon was programmed to do.)<p>Never saw Talbot's body: Check. (Rule Number One of Comic Book Deaths: If there's no body, they're not dead!)<p>Now you young whippersnappers; go back and read those old comics that DOOM has inscribed into his DNA!

really now,we are talking about a character in a mainstream comic series,written by an untalented comic writer.Do u think that:
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1.Loeb has already decided from the first start,who is Rulk's seret identity?
2.if he had already decide who Rulk really is from the beginning of the comic,that there is no chance that he has changed his mind about what his identiy is going to be,not once but multiple times?
3.that they are going to reveal his secret identiy in the near or the far future?
4.that if they are going to reveal it,its going to be someone based on all the evidences shown during the comic's run,and not someone totally unexpected who doesnt make any sense,just for the shock value?
5.and if they finally reveal him,they are going to change his identity in the future with some skind of retcon or twist reveal?
<p>anyway keep reading this kind of <high art>,just allow me to say thank god for the scanners community.

Just when I was ready to give up, this last issue really blew my socks off. I would love to have the current survivors start being proactive, kick some zombie ass, and start to question WHY all this shit is happening. Maybe see if they could do something about it. Also, when is Rick going to put something on his stump? A hook at least. Great reading.

My comic stack rocked this week. Adventure Comics #3 (love the art!), Walking Dead, GL Corps, Secret Six (psyched for Suicide Squad #67), Uncanny X-Men. I like the Magneto treatment and the growth of Scott, Xavier and Magnus. X-Men is taking some risks and I hope there is not some editorial eraser that will bring everyone back to Westchester with Jean Grey in the flock again. I love adding Namor to the mix as well. I was not a huge fan of how drawn out Utopia was, but I like the change in the status quo.

I thought it was great. I liked that the author took slices from different lives to tell the story. It wasn't meant to be the epic story of a few characters, but 'an oral history,' as the title suggests. To each their own. I don't think the author has the chops to write a more focused narative. He is an idea man and used the oral interview as his medium. It would make a good Bay or Bruckheimer (sp?) movie.

I agree. I don't think Max Brooks could write a "real" novel and I did enjoy World War Z for what it was, but the ideas were so good, in the end I felt like some were wasted. At this point, all that fertile ground will pretty much never be explored by someone REALLY good, because it's already been touched on by Brooks, you know? I did think most of the voices sounded a little too much alike though.

I think a Thieves World or Wild Cards type treatment of the World War Z setting could work. I agree on the voices, but that is also my complaint about Walking Dead until recently. Maybe it is the genre?

I can see that, especially when they get all big word-balloon talky-talky on each other, "You see, Rick, I just felt that..."<br><br>I think it is a problem with the genre, but not a WHOLE genre problem. I think that there's this section of zombie fans that have to validate their liking of the genre. It's got metaphors! (zombies as consumers! ...It's still fresh, right? yeah? No?) Or even worse, they pump up the maudlin pathos until all the fun of the post-apocalypty setting is sucked right out of it. They're as bad as the metal head gore dorks on the opposite end of the spectrum, in my opinion.<br><br>I was mostly disappointed with Land of the Dead, but the part where Hero Protaganist tells Tits McGee that he doesn't want to hear her stupid sad story about the zombies because everyone has one was one of the best things ever.

I guess it is just my craving for more heroism. I like The WD characters a lot. When i watch Lost I ge tthe same feeling. I wish people would ask "why" more and be more proactive. The prison could have stayed very cool (i know I'm in the minority here) if the story had continued to progress. How do they rebuild society. Do they try to figure out how to stop the dead? Can they figure out why it happened. Can they put together people to fight back. That is where I would love to see WD go. But it won't cause my wishes would make it jump the shark in all probability. Once again, a cool metal hand, or a hook or a knife hand would be cool. Perhaps a tip of the hat to ash in passing :"So it's a hook. So what? What did you expect, a chainsaw or something?"

Used to write some good horror comics, he just wasn't well suited for The Incredible Hulk is all.
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If you want to try a dis, then you'll have to do much, much better.
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Look out, Jeph Loeb! hst666 on the AICN message board doesn't like you very much! I'm sure Jeph will be crying himself to sleep tonight after he's done rolling around in the giant piles of money that he's made from being one of the top writers in the field of comics.

I would edit the last post to say "most financially successful comic book writers." I could take dump on newsprint and it would be better than Ultimates 3 or Ultimatum. If it weren't for Tim Sale he would be considered average at best. IMO.

Where does it rank on the list of all time greats? I have the first trade and then stopped years ago when I thought the series was over. League of EG good? Watchmen good? Bru Cap good? Worth getting the old trades? Maybe I will wait for the collected series.

"Planetary" works in such different ways from those titles you mention that I'm not sure comparisons are fair. I would say, however, that it's better than Bru Cap because it's extremely ambitious - something it has in common with "Watchmen." While I enjoy "League" a great deal for the use of actual characters ("Planetary" uses pastiches in place of the classics characters), Ellis's book is more satisfying to me. It's not about the enjoyment of seeing these old characters so much as their presence at the center of the larger machinations. So, long story short, "Planetary" is a great read much in keeping with those you mentioned but not directly comparable to any.

I was looking through the Favreau not directing Avengers thread and it made me realize how many people don't like Thor all that much. I do think his current incarnation is too powerful, but overall I love the character. I would like to see a William the Normal Dude limited series as well.

To me, it is everything I could ask for in a comic. I wish Ellis would drop everything else and keep doing that book. So, I'm bias, because it's almost like he specifically wrote it for me, but it's so close behind Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen, that they might as well be a three way tie. League and Bru's Cap aren't even close to being in the running.

Agreed. I mean, he has already touched upon Marvel Character pastiche's already in Planetary, but to have him do something that was more of a continuos saga would be great. <P>
And knowing how his brain works (rationalization of comic book trends) I could easily see his SUPREME POWERS. It would be something along the lines of the new, Marvel characters coming along and displacing (and killing) the DC-based characters. <P>
It might have been cool.

So you don't like Ed McGuinness, Arthur Adams, Simone Bianchi, or Frank Cho either? Jeez, you're a tough one to please, aren't you? No one but Brian Hitch will do! Hawkeye MUST look like Val Kilmer!
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I don't really care about Ultimate comics and haven't read Ultimatum, but I was thinking about getting the trade (just because it's Loeb). Ultimates 3 was OK, I read it for Loeb and the cool art. I thought that it had one of the best "Ultimate" universe changes of all... that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were incestuous. What I thought made it a good change for the Ultimate universe was that it wasn't a completely arbitrary and meaningless change (like a lot of the changes in the Ultimate u.), but one that always seemed likely. I always thought that they liked each other a little bit too much. Plus, it has the "shock value" style and moral corruption of the characters that the Ultimate universe runs on.
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I guess my ability to enjoy it also has something to do with not giving a crap about Ultimates, which I never thought was that great anyway. It seemed like a bit of an improvement to me, because at least there was more action and cooler artwork.
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I can see how kids new to reading comics and Marvel would be attracted to the Ultimate universe, because it's a new starting point and you don't need to know very much about comics in general to enjoy it. But, it doesn't hold much attraction for older people who know a lot about the characters and their history.
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What's funny is that now those same kids reading the Ultimate universe comics are starting to enter a stage where they do have some continuity and backstory, and they're feeling that the "big changes/differences" that the Ultimate universe was originally known for are a slight towards them. I guess it's kind of funny, when looked at with some perspective.
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Peace to y'all haters!

It started out great, doing a different rip-off/homage/whatever every issue, then it got bogged down with Ellis' somewhat boring main characters and over-arching story, losing some of its magic. I wish that Planetary could have stayed as good as its first few issues for its entire run. The art is undeniably great, but Ellis strikes me as a half-ass, wannabe Grant Morrison.
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Iron Man: Extremis was pretty cool though.

Before you mentioned that you watched Models, Inc. (and therefore knew it was on Fox), I was gonna suggest that it was on the air (and incessantly advertised) about the same time as some other abortive genre or geek-worthy shows like Profit, Vampire: the Masquerade, and Roar.<BR><BR>Just tossing those out there if anyone wants to run with 'em.

but a router on the fritz last night, a sick daughter in the middle of the night, and a 6:30am phone call resulting in me driving out to figure out why a server was down kept me away from the intertubes... <br><br>Had been wavering between Clay Quartermain and Glenn Talbot, but since Talbot was always a stinker and Clay was not, my money would be on Talbot. Though the Igor guess also made me rock back on my virtual heels.

one of the most magnificent series ever. I didn't read them as they came out, but collected, and when I did, I couldn't put it down. The fact that the ending was a bit rushed doesn't detract one iota from the series as a whole: breathtaking.<br><br> Since the scope of that series was so epic, mad_skilz, maybe it just isn't the genre for you.<br><br>Heh.

What I was saying was that I liked Planetary *more* when it *was* epic, and liked it less when it became more mundane. I still bought and read them all as they came out.
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You completely loved it all the way through. That's fine! Really it is. I just have problems with some of Ellis' story elements and character development, but never the awesome Cassiday art.
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I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm.

Gets an 0-2 count on A-Roid, then 3 straight balls, before throwing a meatball pitch smacked for a home run. Twins season over at that point. Next time, take your hands off your throat before throwing a pitch.<p>World War Z worked for me precisely because it left me wanting more. Did a nice job at showing how society slow broke down, from opening outbreak to defeating the zombie threat. Will agree that I wish he would have eliminated two or three stories to flesh out the others, but give the man a hand for what he did. I also felt that the way they dealt with the zombies seemed rushed and, ironically, unrealistic for a book that tried to deal with the issue from a realistic perspective.

Loeb is the Kevin Costner of Comics. He worked with Tim Sale and coasted on that art to get better gigs than his writing would normally allow. Costner had great material early on (Silverado, No Way Out, Field of Dreams) and once you started to see him ACT, it was obvious that the dude was just friggin lucky to be in such good products. I'm glad people get some joy out of Loeb, I just think he is not great and his artists have elevated his game. the list of impressive artists supports my point really. Name a crappy artist that worked with Loeb and we loved the book anyway. I just mentioned The Mighty as a great book (8/10) that had mediocre art but great writing. Loeb is just a sledgehammer of a writer and not for me.

So, the sans-Quitely Batman and Robin held up better than I expected, but I have to say Dick is dull as Batman. Red Hood and Scarlet are awesome and extremely entertaining, but if Batman and Robin remain so dull, I will end up dropping this book. Alfred, however, is written very well. Not a wimpy butler but not the ass-kicker who made me stop buying Outsiders either.
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Although I came of age with the Perez/Wolfman Titans, I generally much prefer the newer versions. However, I loooved the whole Terra character and storyline so much that I picked up Blackest Night: Titans. It was also extremely fun. I was quite bummed by the apparent death of Hawk, so got issue two, which somehow made Donna Troy's dreadful ex-husband entertaining (oh, yeah, cause he's a zombie now, but still). It's total big dumb fun,but don't attack me, I mean that in a good way.
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OTOH, the new JLA, apparently led by the old Titans and Conner in a new costume, looks awful. Really awful. James Robinson was so good onthe old Starman, I don't know why his modern work sucks so much.
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Finally, the latest issue of Jonah Hex is also a top-notch read. I wasn't crazy about this book doing a six-issue story, but as of this issue, part five, it's all come together in a most riveting way.

...what people claim that the Ultimate comics are supposed to do but on a wider scale: provide a new way of looking at our weird pop culture. Secret History of the 20th Century. Joe Nat nailed it when he said that it seemed like a comic written just for him, except that it was written just for me. It was like: Warren, John, bubbes, how did you know City Zero, the black list, the bomb, easy conspiracies were my passion. The proto-Bruce Banner working a quantum equation in his head during the blast and the result being something that could survive the Bomb and that's Bomb with a capital B, bay-bee! I liked the way he portrayed the Four (as usual it was the unsubtle, unimaginative and literal minds of our fellow fanboys who started applying those questions to the Fantastic Four. I say, every Fantastic Four story should take place before the JFK assasination). I liked the Monster Island idea because of the giant monsters, but there were a few weak ones where they'd go look at some dead pop culture thing then go bowling or something. Where I parted ways with the concept and the book was the Planetary group having super human powers themselves and battling the evil super group -- I've seen the X-Men take on the Brotherhood, ya know? I like them as chroniclers, observers, explorers, and I would have liked them a little more vulnerable. For me, Planetary ended at the perfect point, which shows a lot more class, taste and restraint that we usually see in comics.